


Delia Needs a Hug (And Gets One)

by EmeraldAshes



Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: Beetlejuice Being Himself, Beetlejuice Has Issues, Delia Being New Agey AF, Delia Has Issues, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2021-01-25 05:06:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21350710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldAshes/pseuds/EmeraldAshes
Summary: Beetlejuice wasn’t anyone’s first choice for a shoulder to cry on. But he was oddly persistent and he could literally walk through walls, so Delia supposed she would have to make do.
Comments: 14
Kudos: 235





	Delia Needs a Hug (And Gets One)

Beetlejuice didn’t typically bust in on people who were using the bathroom. Not since that one time with Babs anyway. But he could hear Delia’s sobbing through the floorboards, the tightly-wound woman always seemed just this side of dancing off the roof, and he really wasn’t ready to share this house with another fucking ghost. 

“Knock, knock,” Beetlejuice said as he floated through the bathroom door. 

Delia smiled brightly at him as if she wasn’t crying on the floor and he wasn’t a demon who haunted her home. “Hi Beetlejuice.”

“Sup, Deb,” Beetlejuice said. Look, if she wasn’t gonna bring it up, then he wasn’t gonna bring it up. “So, uh, what’s with the rock?”

The redhead peered down at the rough purple crystal in her clenched fist. “It’s amethyst. It promotes healing and calm.”

The demon looked at the stone, avoiding her red-rimmed eyes. “Is it working?”

Delia immediately started sobbing again. She buried her face in her knees, only leaving a messier-than-usual topknot poking out.

“Ah, shit,” Beetlejuice said. “Are you on the rag or something?”

Delia shook her head.

“You sure?”

She mumbled into her thighs. “My time of the month is very regular. I usually get it on the night of the full moon because I'm one with the Earth.”

“Okaaaay...so clearly you’re feeling some sort of” — Beetlejuice waved his hand vaguely — “Feeling.”

Through her sobs, Delia choked out, “Do you ever worry that you’re going to die alone?”

“I’m already dead, babes.” Figuring that this might be a while, Beetlejuice sat cross-legged in midair.

Delia sniffled. “I’m sorry, that was insensitive.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. Besides, we were talking about you and how you’re gonna die alone.”

As Delia burst into renewed sobs, her topknot finally made a break for it, falling into a ragged ponytail.

Beetlejuice floated closer, slinging an arm around Delia’s shoulders and wondering how inappropriate it would be to check out her rack right now. “Hey, hey, come on, sweetheart. Lots of people die alone. Some people are alone their whole lives, and it’s no big deal and they are” — Beetlejuice did jazz hands with his free arm — “totally awesome. Look at me!”

Delia blew her nose, dabbing at the tears dripping down her face. “Didn’t you try to force a fourteen-year-old into marriage?”

“It was a green card thing,” he grumbled.

“But it wasn’t just that, was it? You were lonely?” she asked.

Beetlejuice shrugged, his darkening hair the only sign that she might have struck a nerve. “You’re the one who’s crying. I wouldn’t usually care, and frankly, I don’t, but everything about you screams daddy issues. I can relate to that, so you have thirty seconds to start talking before I lose interest.”

“I think I’m Charles’ cat.” Delia blurted out.

“Okay, I’m not sure where this is going, but you’ve got my attention.”

“When my husband left, I got a cat because I wasn’t gonna have a baby. And I loved the cat, but it wasn’t a baby. And then it ran away because some people aren’t meant to have a family.” Delia suddenly hugged Beetlejuice with a grip so tight that it might have hurt if he could still feel pain. 

Beetlejuice contemplated going incorporeal and fleeing the house. That might be rude, though, so he settled on the next best thing. “If this is a come on, then it’s working.”

“Charles called me Emily in bed,” Delia said, ignoring him completely. “I don’t think he noticed because he was, well…”

“Erupting like Mount Vesuvius?”

Delia paused briefly, contemplating the correct response to an innuendo that colorful, before settling on “Yes.”

She continued, “I just feel so alone sometimes. Like I never really fit anywhere. Really, I don’t know why I thought I could be a life coach; I’m a mess!”

Beetlejuice patted her back. “Deb, Deb, Deb. Every life coach is a mess. That’s why they become a life coach. Besides, you’re not the  _ worst _ life coach. You kind of helped me.”

Delia leaned back to stare into his eyes, though she still stubbornly clung to his chubby sides. “Really?”

“Yeah, I mean, there I was. Alone, invisible, bored out of my fucking skull. But despite all that, your weird-ass positivity thing made me laugh. And that’s important, Deborah.”

“Delia,” she mumbled.

“That’s the spirit,” Beetlejuice cried as he teleported to the opposite side of the room. “Besides, what’s wrong with being a cat? People like cats.”

Delia giggled, hiccuping slightly with the last trace of her sobbing fit. “I’m a bit psychic, you know.”

Beetlejuice blinked. “You’re talking to a literal demon right now.”

“Exactly!” Delia said. “Mostly I see auras, though. Yours is pretty. Very gold."

Beetlejuice rubbed the back of his head, just knowing that his hair was going pink. "Uh, thanks?"

She stood on slightly wobbly legs. "What’s your sign?”

“I dunno.”

“When were you born?”

“Ha! You assume I was born.”

Delia turned to the mirror, combing her hair through her fingers and slipping it into its usual style. “I think you’re a Gemini. You _ feel  _ like a Gemini. I’m a Libra.”

Beetlejuice asked, “Does that mean something?”

  
She clutched her amethyst and smiled. “Beetlejuice, it means  _ everything _ .”


End file.
